Swingable mailbox structure



Sept. K3, 1%6 E. J. BAARSGARD 3,272,465

SWINGABLE MAILBOX STRUCTURE Filed Dec. 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR- ATTORNEYS- W 119% E. .J. BAARSGARD 3,2?2A65 SWINGABLE MAILBOXSTRUCTURE Filed Dec. 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent3,272,465 SWINGABLE MAILBOX STRUCTURE Eli J. Baarsgard, Mabel, Minn.Filed Dec. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 421,937 7 Claims. (Cl. 248145) The presentinvention relates to a mailbox and more particularly to a mailbox thatcan be swung about the support upon which it is mounted.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mailbox having aname plate associated therewith, a signal flag associated therewith andwhich mailbox is supported on a structure and can freely swing in ahorizontal plane should the mailbox be inadvertently struck or hit by anobject.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a mailbox thatis freely swingable upon support means and which mailbox can be rotatedor swung at various angles about the support if desired.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a mailboxsupport structure in which all of the parts can be made of conventionalcomponents readily available and in which any of the parts can bereadily replaced without completely requiring the entire structure to bereplaced.

Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will bereadily apparent from the following detailed description when consideredin connection with accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a sideelevational view of the mailbox structure embodying the presentinvention. FIGURE 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a section taken along th eline 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a section taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a section taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a section taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 7 is a section taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 8 is a sect-ion taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 9 is a section taken along line 99 of FIG- URE 7.

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9 but showing the name plateremoved.

FIGURE 11 is a section taken along the line 11-11 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a modification ofthe invention illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 13 is a section taken along line 1313 of FIGURE 12 and FIGURE 14is a section taken along line 14-14 of FIGURE 12.

Referring to FIGURE 1 the reference number 10 generally designates amailbox structure provided with a conventional mailbox 12 with a closedback cover 14 and a hinged front cover 16 for removing the mail from themailbox.

The mailbox is supported on two T-shaped posts, with the post 18 beingdisposed in front of the post 20. The T-shaped cross section of theposts 18 and 20 is clearly shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. The T posts arenormally driven into the ground or soil where it is desired to positionthe mailbox. The front post 18 is provided with a tubular or cylindricalmember 22 disposed over the upper portion thereof. The tubular member 22is provided with a horizontal bolt 24 extending therethroughapproximately half way up the member 22 .so that the lower portion ofthe tubular member 22 telescopes over the upper portion of the T post 18and the bolt 24 rests on top of the T post 18 as best seen in FIG. I.

The extreme upper end of tubular member 22 is provided with a supportbar 26 having a circular clamp 28 encircling the tubular member 22 witha short strap member 30 and a long strap member 32 extendinghorizontally from the opposite sides of the clamp 28. The clamp 28 issecured to the tubular member 22 by a bolt 34 and a name platerectangular in shape designated 36 is disposed between the straps 30 and32 and has its left end disposed in a slot 38 provided in the top of thetubular member 22. The name plate 36 is secured to the straps 30 and 32by a pair of bolts 40.

A bracket member 42 having a circular clamp 44 is disposed on the member22 below the bar 26 as best seen in FIGS. 1 and 4. The circular clamp 44encircles the member 22 and is secured thereto by a bolt member 46secure-d to the outer legs 48 of the clamp 44.

A band member 50 encircles the inner end of the mailbox 12 and has itsupper and lower ends secured to the straps 30 and 32 and the legs 48respectively. Referring to FIGURE 2 the band member 50 consists of twoidentical bifurcated portions 52 facing each other with upper ears 54secured by a bolt 56 to the straps 30 and 32 and with lower ears 58secured by a bolt 60 to the bracket member 42.

The forward or front end of the mailbox 12 is supported by asemicircular clamp 62 secured by a bolt 64 to the top of the mailbox andby a horizontal bolt 66 threaded through the front end of the strap 32.

A signal device is provided for the mailbox consisting of a rectangularsignal flag '68 mounted on. spaced spring members 70 having one endsecured to the lower end of the flag 68 and the other ends secured tothe bolt 66 as best seen in FIGURE 8. The spring members 70 are disposedso as to normally bias the flag into a vertical position such as thatshown in FIGURES l and 8. The upper end of the flag 68 is provided witha chain 7-2 and a wedge 74 which is positioned in the dotted lineposition between the latches 76 and 78 of the mailbox. The latch 78forms a friction fit with the latch 76 and the wedge 74 when positionedtherebetween will stay there until the postman opens the hinged cover16. The springs will then cause the flag to move to its vertical.position. At this time the notch 80 in the bottom of the flag will moveinto one of the corresponding notches 82 in the strap 32.

A dual clamp 84 is provided on the lower end of the tubular member 22and the T post 18. Referring to FIGURE 5, the dual clamp 84 has acircular upper clamp 86 encircling the tubular member 22 and securing itthereto by a bolt 88 and a lower semicircular clamp 90 with a bolt 92securing it to the post 18. It will be noted that the dual clamp has theforwardly extending legs of the upper and lower clamps spaced apart fromeach other as best seen in FIGURE 1 while the rear portions of theclamps are formed integral with each other.

With the structure already described it is sufiicient to support aconventional mailbox so that should it be desired to position themailbox 12 in any direction with respect to the post 18 it is onlynecessary to push or shove the mailbox in a horizontal direction and thetubular member 22 will turn on and with respect to the T post 18. It isalso apparent that this swingable mailbox permits the mailbox =12 to beinadvertently struck or hit and not be damaged since the mailbox isfreely swingable on the T post 18 under such conditions.

Where the mailbox is rather heavy another support clamp 94 may beprovided to give additional support to the mailbox. In FIGURE 3, theclamp 94 is provided with a circular clamp portion 96 encircling thetubular member 22 with rearwardly extending spaced legs 98 turnedinwardly adjacent the T post as designated at 100. The clamp 94 isprovided with bolt members 10-2 and a bolt 104 for clamping it to thepost 18 and 20.

Referring to the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 12, this issubstantially the same as that described in connection with FIGURE 1except that there is no dual clamp 84, but there is a bracket 106disposed above the bracket member 42. The bracket 106 as best seen inFIGURE 14, has a circular clamp 108 encircling the tubular member 22with rearwardly extending legs 110 clamped to the tubular member by abolt 112. In this embodiment the horizontal bolt 114 extends through thetubular member 22 and the circular clamp 10 8. A spring 116 has one endsecured to a bolt L18 extending between the legs 98 of the support clamp94, and the lower end secured to the bolt 112.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that the presentinvention provides a novel mailbox structure in which the mailbox ismounted on a tubular member in turn mounted on a T-shaped member andwhich mail box and tubular member can be freely swung or rotated aboutthe T post to be positioned at any desired predetermined laterallylocation, and which mailbox can further be swung around the T post if itis inadvertently struck or hit by an object so that there will be nodamage thereto.

Inasmuch as changes may be made in the form, location and arrangement ofthe several parts without departing from the principle of the invention,it will be understood that the invention is not to be limited except bythe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A mailbox support comprising an elongated post, an elongated tubularpipe telescopically engaged over said fence post, means in said pipeengaging the upper end of said fence post for limiting the penetrationof said fence post in said pipe, a first support member, with a circularclamp and two horizontal straps secured to said pipe, a second supportmember with a circular clamp and two horizontal straps secured to saidpipe and spaced below said first support member, a mailbox, and verticalband means encircling said mailbox and having upper and lower endssecured to said first and second support member straps respectively.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein securing means are secured to one ofsaid straps of said first support member and the front portion of saidmailbox.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein another elongated post is providedspaced from the first mentioned post and a support clamp is providedwith a circular clamp portion secured to said pipe adjacent its frontend and another portion clamped to said another post adjacent the rearend thereof.

4. A mailbox support comprising an elongated post, a tubular pipetelescopically mounted over said post, means in said pipe engaging theupper end of said post for limiting the penetration of said fence postin said pipe, a first support member with a circular clamp encirclingsaid pipe to secure it thereon, a short and a long strap extendinghorizontally from opposite sides of said circular clamp, a secondsupport member spaced below said first member with a circular clampencircling said pipe to secure it thereon, two short horizontal legsextending from opposite sides of the second member circular clamp, avertical bifurcated band having its upper and lower ends secured to saidfirst and second members respectively, a mailbox having its rear portionclamped within said band, and means connected to the front end of saidmailbox and said long strap for supporting said mailbox.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein a dual clamp consisting of an uppercircular clamp portion and a lower semicircular clamp portion isprovided with said upper portion mounted on said pipe and said lowerportion mounted on said post.

6. The device of claim 4 wherein a short T support clamp is mounted onsaid pipe between said first and second members, and a second post isprovided spaced from said first mentioned post, and an elongated supportclamp is mounted on both said second post and said pipe above said shortclamp and below said first member and a spring is secured between and tosaid elongated and short support clamps.

7. The device of claim 4 wherein a signal flag consisting of arectangular plate with springs secured to its lower end is provided, achain and wedge are attached to the plate, said springs are attached tosaid means connected to the front end of the mailbox, and latch meansare provided on said mailbox to frictionally engage said wedge.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,888,111 11/1932Brown 248- 2,194,900 3/1940 Helten 232 39 2,562,021 7/1951 Dotten248-122 2,874,895 2/1959 Oppetal 232-35 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, PrimaryExaminer.

R. P. SEITTER, Assistant Examiner.

1. A MAILBOX SUPPORT COMPRISING AN ELONGATED POST, AN ELONGATED TUBULARPIPE TELESCOPICALLY ENGAGED OVER SAID FENCE POST, MEANS IN SAID PIPEENGAGING THE UPPER END OF SAID FENCE POST FOR LIMITING THE PENETRATIONOF SAID FENCE POST IN SAID PIPE, A FIRST SUPPORT MEMBER, WITH A CIRCULARCLAMP AND TWO HORIZONTAL STRAPS SECURED TO SAID PIPE, A SECOND SUPPORTMEMBER WITH A CIRCULAR CLAMP AND TWO HORIZONTAL STRAPS SECURED TO SAIDPIPE AND SPACED BELOW SAID FIRST SUPPORT MEMBER, A MAILBOX, AND VERTICALBAND MEANS ENCIRCLING SAID MAILBOX AND HAVING UPPER AND LOWER ENDSSECURED TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND SUPPORT MEMBER STRAPS RESPECTIVELY.